Heroin accounts for the highest number of drug misuse deaths in England and Wales.
Photograph: Kenishirotie/Getty Images/iStockphoto

People who die from drug misuse in England are more likely to be single white men who live alone and have a history of mental ill-health, a study from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has concluded.

The report, commissioned by Public Health England, examined coroners’ reports of drug-related deaths across the country in 2014 and 2015.

The study found some of the most common characteristics of individuals in these cases were that they were “white, single or divorced, living alone, unemployed and had a prior history of drug use and/or mental health issues”.

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“It was already known that around three-quarters of drug misuse deaths are male,” the report said. “In line with other reports, the findings suggest a vulnerable, at-risk population engaging in unsafe drug-taking practices such as taking drugs alone and consuming multiple different types of drug alongside alcohol.”

The ONS cautioned that the study only had a sample size of 115 – just over 2.6% of the 4,420 deaths from drug misuse in that period. The number of cases it could study was restricted by the amount of time it took to visit multiple coroner’s offices and sift through paperwork.

Of the 115 records that were studied, 68% of individuals were identified as white and 6% were described as Asian, black or other. There was no information on ethnicity in the remaining 26% of cases. A recent study of drug users in treatment in England found 85% were white British.

In 80% of the cases examined by the ONS, the individual had used drugs at least once prior to the incident that caused their death, and 54% had a history of alcohol misuse. Of those who had a history of drug use, 62% were thought to have taken heroin in the past.

Heroin accounts for the highest number of drug misuse deaths in England and Wales, with 1,164 people dying from heroin overdoses in 2017. Drugs charities have previously warned about the “trainspotting generation” – men in their 40s who are increasingly vulnerable to overdosing as their health deteriorates following decades of drug use.

About one in four people in the general population experience a mental health problem each year, while at least two-thirds of the cases studied by the ONS mentioned mental health conditions such as depression.

More than one-third of the coroners’ reports concerned people who were living alone in their own home, while 11% were recorded as living in temporary accommodation, such as a hotel, hostel or homeless shelter. Another 27% were living with family. Just 10% of the deceased were married, with 62% recorded as single or aged under 16 years, 19% divorced and 4% widowed.

About half of the cases concerned people who were unemployed or economically inactive, with 24% in employment. “Those who previously held a job before they became unemployed tended to have worked in skilled or elementary trade occupations, rather than administrative, managerial or public service roles,” the report said.